Language:
English
Year of publication:
1999
Titel der Quelle:
Modern Fiction Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
45,2 (1999) 457-479
Keywords:
Grossman, David,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
;
Holocaust survivors Fiction
;
Israeli literature 20th century
Abstract:
Until the mid-1980s it was taboo in Israel for a non-survivor to write about the Holocaust, especially from an imaginative perspective. This changed with Grossman's novel "See Under: Love" (1986). This work employs elements of the fantastic to break down the strongest barrier separating the world of Holocaust victims from that of their Israeli descendants, the latter's inability to understand or accept the victims' going "like sheep to the slaughter." In the novel, fantasy enables the grandchildren to enter the concentrationary world and gain an empathy that allows the possibility of dialogue with important voices that have long been suppressed. Thus, while literature may not be able to authentically represent the reality of the Holocaust, it can facilitate authentic response.
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